The UFC is about to get a little “loopy.”
Women’s strawweight Lupita Godinez, a Legacy Fighting Alliance and BTC champion, has signed with the promotion, and is set to face Jessica Penne on April 17. Sources confirmed the news to Cageside Press recently. MMA Junkie was first to report the booking.
Godinez (5-0) will be stepping in to replace Hannah Goldy, who has withdrawn from the card for undisclosed reasons.
Lupita “Loopy” Godinez enters the UFC as an undefeated prospect with five straight wins since turning pro in 2018. She also had a lengthy amateur career, during which time she fought current UFC strawweight Sam Hughes on two occasions, going 1-0-1 against her UFC colleague.
In 2019, Godinez, born in Mexico but fighting out of Canada, won the BTC women’s strawweight title at BTC 8 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. She then went on to LFA, where she defeated Contender Series alum Vanessa Demopoulos in a bloody war for that promotion’s strawweight title back in October 2020.
Penne (12-5) is a former UFC women’s strawweight title challenger. However, since her loss to then-champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2015, Penne has lost two more bouts — and spent nearly four years battling USADA over anti-doping policy violations. Penne has not fought since a 2017 loss to Danielle Taylor at UFC Fight Night 108.
The UFC’s April 17 card, UFC on ESPN 22, takes place once again at the Apex in Las Vegas. The card currently consists of the following bouts:
Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Gerald Meerschaert vs. Bartosz Fabinski
Chase Sherman vs. Parker Porter
Justine Kish vs. Tracy Cortez
Tony Gravely vs. Anthony Birchak
Natan Levy vs. Austin Hubbard
Drakkar Klose vs. Jeremy Stephens
Luis Peña vs. Alexander Munoz
Bill Algeo vs. Ricardo Ramos
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Jacob Malkoun
Josiane Nunes vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos
Lupita Godinez vs. Jessica Penne
